Tablet scheme canned

The "One Tablet Per Child" project has been scrapped, with the National Council for Peace and Order damning it as inappropriate and a poor investment.

Permanent secretary for education Suthasri Wongsaman confirmed that a meeting yesterday agreed to cancel the tablet project for the 2014 academic year, as well as an e-auction to buy tablets for Zone 4 from last year (for Mathayom 1 in the North and Northeast).

Meanwhile, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning will propose three urgent mega-projects that cost some Bt2.4 trillion to the junta after the ousted government's high-speed train project was dropped following the coup, director Chula Sukmanop said yesterday.

Budget allocations for the seven-year projects to be launched in 2015 fiscal year will be reduced from Bt3 trillion originally planned, he said. The projects include building 3 Skytrain routes, extension of a motorway, and dual-track trains. These will be put to the junta on Thursday.